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In November 2024, national team playmaker Ford appeared disappointed during the match.

He was called upon from the bench to help the home side complete an historic victory facing the Kiwis, however missed a crucial penalty plus a drop-goal attempt while his team lost by a narrow margin.

In the wake of those pivotal failures, Ford needed to put in effort to secure another chance to achieve success for the national side.

He saw just 25 minutes of action during this year's Six Nations yet multiple impressive performances, particularly on the warm-weather tour against Argentina and the USA as Fin Smith and Marcus Smith were away on Lions team responsibilities, put him firmly back in the starting mix.

The veteran player did more than justify Steve Borthwick's faith through his selection versus New Zealand, plus the club standout delivered a player-of-the-match performance to assist England to a first win against the All Blacks at home since 2012.

The pivotal moment came when Ford converted back-to-back drop-goals right before half-time.

This enabled the English bounce back from being down 12-0 to reduce the margin to 12-11 at the break, ahead of the manager's skilled reserves repeatedly excelled during the final period to help his side to a comfortable 33-19 victory.

"You have to give credit to the experienced players in our team, particularly Ford," Borthwick told. "In that moment when he converted those drop-goals, he managed the game absolutely brilliantly.

"Twelve months ago In my view George substituted and competed exceptionally well [versus the All Blacks].

"A attempt hit the upright and he had a difficult drop-goal, but he played really well.

"He is a phenomenal leader, an outstanding athlete plus a better human being. We are honored to include him on our team."

Drop-goals 'always in the plan'

The All Blacks started quickly during the match, racing into a substantial early margin via touchdowns by Fainga'anuku and Taylor.

Following Ollie Lawrence's powerful finish, the fly-half's successive drop-kicks resulted in the home side returned to the locker room with renewed energy.

"The difficult aspect during those periods is, when the scoreboard says 12-0, we must maintain to our plan and what we believe the best way to perform is," Ford said.

"We fought our way back into contention and we knew should we begin the latter half effectively, with the bench coming on, we were in an advantageous spot.

"Although facing a quarter-hour remaining, we found ourselves near our try line with a yellow card, so we had challenges in that instance too.

"I believe this illustrates elite competition requires - which team can handle with those moments superiorly."

The two attempts occurred within close succession as the fly-half who successfully converted three crucial kicks in a win against Argentina at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, demonstrated his full century of caps experience.

Ford successfully executed two drop-kicks with Sale in a Prem game occurring during tough circumstances versus Bath - this represents an ability he is well-practised in.

"The drop-kicks form part of our strategy," Ford stated further.

"Borthwick represents an outstanding manager since he continually advising me, and rightly so because three points is valuable at any stage of competition."

Ford marshalled his side brilliantly around the field the complete contest, executing intelligent kicks - both to compete and locating gaps in the opposition's territory.

His signature high spiral kick additionally troubled the opposing fullback, who mishandled the ball.

Having started England's win against Australia on 1 November, Ford relinquished the number 10 jersey to the younger Smith for the Fiji victory the following week.

However the greatest challenge in terms of difficulty was presented by the multiple World Cup winners, and Ford reclaimed his starting role.

The national side, presently maintaining an unbeaten streak of ten, play against Argentina this month and it will be interesting to learn if the manager opts with the alternative or continues with Ford.

Whatever choice occurs, Ford established two years away from a World Cup that significant amounts of rugby left for him.